A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

December 2013: Amsterdam

My second 'December Diversion' for 2013 was a
short hop over to Amsterdam between Christmas and New Year. This had
been prompted by seeing the news, earlier in the year, that the
famous Rijksmuseum had reopened following a ten-year makeover.
Having never actually visited the place in its old guise, I was keen to have a look and see what all the fuss was about. The trip
turned out to have rather a highbrow agenda: I also went to the Van
Gogh museum and indulged my interest in classical music with a tour
of the city's world-famous concert hall.

My plans were also partly designed to
weather-proof the trip as much as possible. In the event, however, I
was particularly lucky in this respect, with conditions more
suggestive of autumn than midwinter.

Rijksmuseum

Centrepiece of Amsterdam's renowned
Museumplein (Museum Square), the reopened Rijksmuseum
was indeed the main reason behind this trip. I turned up at opening
time on Saturday morning, but already there was a substantial queue
for holders of pre-purchased tickets and a similar line for those
still to buy their tickets. Needless to say, the former moved much
more quickly than the latter and I was soon inside. The vast
collection, mostly artworks, kept me contentedly occupied for
several hours.

Van Gogh museum

Americans say 'go' and the British say 'goff', but
the Dutch pronunciation seemed to me to be closer to the German word
'hoch'. However much we foreigners play fast and loose with
the man's name, we all manage to agree that Vincent van Gogh was one
of the most influential artists of the 19th century. Echoing my
experience at the nearby Rijksmuseum the previous day, this
very interesting and well presented tribute to one of the
Netherlands' most celebrated sons was busy from opening time, and
the queue for admission had grown to frightful proportions by
lunchtime.

Time for some fresh air

With the weather looking this good, I didn't want
to spend my entire stay indoors!

Concertgebouw

While the name literally means 'concert building', I noticed that
the famous venue was announced in English on the trams as 'Royal Dutch Concert
Hall', which sounded altogether more impressive.

I very much enjoyed touring the building, so closely
associated with one of my all-time favourite conductors, Bernard Haitink.